Lopez Blogs

As the summer keeps going and dancefloors are eager to get you let's continue checking new fresh mixes from some actual Swedish stars.

Le Kid in a process of promoting their debut single "Mercy Mercy" released a pack of new different mixes, I can't say any of them lacks interest, Seductive Baguette Mix is very gentle chill-out track, Kaus Club Mix is more proper for the club dancefloor, Tore Jarlo Remix is not less adorable but as a mostly pop-fan I can't help demonstrating you fantastic Stay The Mix. As you probably know Felix and Märta from Le Kid produced Alcazar's hit "Stay The Night" together with Anders Hansson and "Stay The Mix" is "Mercy Mercy" wrapped into arrangement of "Stay The Night" sounding not less anthemic then Alcazar's song with a great tune of original Le Kid's track.

Timoteij's single "Högt Över Ängarna" following success of debut "Kom" (#2) reached #3 of Swedish chart last week. Thankfully band didn't leave us without some goodies and included 2 dance-mixes of "Kom" into it. Both are quite worthy but my choice for now is more eurodance CM Music Remix.

And finally Emilia De Poret who still make efforts of promoting her biggest hit "Pick Me Up" in US has just released video for the mix made by Richard Vission. It's just a shooting of Emilia dancing in some gorgeous clothes but after amazing expensive videos "This Ain't A Lovesong" and "Now Or Never" we can forgive Emilia a little rest for her budget.

Thanx to Marcin for the help with article.

Let's take a look now at what Sommarkysset was about in the second half of July and there were actually pretty loads of interesting things going on.
Winner of Melodifestivalen-2010 Anna Bergendahl performed her new single "The Army" that she plans to shoot video very soon for. With her original dress and hair in front of mass of green people she looked a little like alien princess but sure it's pretty nice how she currently makes some very positive experiments with her style transforming from next-door girl to a gorgeous pop-diva. Another long-awaited by many pop-fans performance was done by Le Kid, who were singing their debut single "Mercy Mercy" in a brightest colors and style of video for this song. Style performed medley of their best hits. Marie Serneholt and Sebastian Karlsson as a new musical-stars performed with the band of Grease. And as it was expected Martin Stenmarck promoted his "Everybody's changing" and Stockholm Pride stars Peter Gustafsson & Ankie Bagger were singing "Secret Weapon". Rock-part of performers in a faces of Shout Out Louds performing their new single "Fall Hard" and Ola Joyce with "Beautiful Loser" was also quite desrving attention. Among foreigh guests you could see Jon and Kato with the single "Turn the Lights Off" that have become very successful in Sweden and Eurovision-winner Lena with her famous "Satellite".

Ever felt like a tourist in your own country?

I might be a bit of an expert on European travel by now, but when it comes to my own country that's another thing entirely. So it's about time I checked out some new places...!

Yesterday, faithful travelling companion and myself "took the high road" and headed for Balloch, a village on the south banks of Loch Lomond.

Of course the main obstacle stopping you from discovering this country will always be our horrible, wet weather but if you wait for a dry day you'll probably wait forever. So, umbrellas at the ready, we arrived in a wet (but mild) Balloch, a nice little place with more than enough dining options but not much else really. (Although there is a shopping centre called Loch Lomond Shores, but that's for another visit).

The prime draw here is of course Loch Lomond itself, and we took the opportunity to take a one hour cruise which takes you as far as Inchmurrin (the largest island on the loch) and then back. It was all very lovely and scenic and serene, which was just what I needed after a turbulent week! We also took a little stroll through a woodland trail down to the edge of the loch, where we dipped our toes in the water.

The rain went off, the sun came out later on, but by that time we had to make our way back for our connections home. As you know, my definition of the great outdoors is usually the bit between the restaurant and the shopping mall, so this was a nice new experience for us. We really enjoyed our day out, and would like to do something similar again in the future!

The 2010 Tour de France ended last Sunday, as usual on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and as usual with an exciting sprint finish. The "Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish chalked up his fifth stage win this year, although that still wasn't enough for him to win the points classification. (This year's green jersey winner was Alessandro Petacchi). Former multiple winner and race legend Lance Armstrong meanwhile completed his final Tour and announced his (second) retirement after the race.

Above: Fifth time lucky for Cav. (photo courtesy of BBC Sport/Getty Images)

There were high hopes for the British riders this year, and a new British team (Team Sky) in the competition. Great things were expected from Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky's main man, however inevitable disappointment was to follow. Wiggins was philosophical about it all, and described it as a 'bad season'. Team Sky had another couple of promising young riders: Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen, and the Welshman Geraint Thomas, and they both did well this year and showed great promise for the future.

Usually the early stages of the Tour are predictable and uneventful, all flat stages and sprint finishes. This year's Tour started in Holland, and then travelled down through Belgium, finally entering France. The organisers of 2010 clearly had, dare I say, a vicious streak?! It was cobbles, chaos and carnage in the opening days, with rough weather and rough roads. One major casualty of the cobblestones was Frank Schleck who had to retire through injury on Stage 3. The Schleck brothers, Frank and Andy, were serious contenders to prevent reigning champ Alberto Contador winning the race again: but it was left to Andy to soldier on.

Above: the Schleck brothers. (photo courtesy of BBC Sport/Getty Images)

By stage 15, Andy was in yellow, and all was going well. That was until the chain came off Andy's bike. Alberto Contador, sitting on Schleck's shoulder, then launched an attack and all hell broke loose. I know everyone has their own view on the situation, so here is mine: That was the point the Tour turned sour for me. Did Contador need to attack? Yes. Did he need to attack so fiercely? Definitely not. Andy Schleck deserved to be very, very angry. And all the YouTube apologies in the world didn't make it right.

Yes, the 2010 edition of the Tour de France was exciting, but Contador's inevitable eventual win left a bit of a bad taste for me. Fingers crossed that Andy Schleck's time will come!